Traditional project management was built for a world that no longer exists. Fixed scope, fixed timelines, and waterfall delivery work when requirements are stable and change is predictable. Most projects do not work that way. The PMI reports that agile projects are 28% more successful than waterfall projects, and that organizations adopting agile practices waste significantly less on failed or late delivery. Agile is no longer a technology methodology. It is an organizational capability. This course builds it properly.

Course Overview

The Agile Project Management program is a comprehensive, practical course covering agile principles, Scrum, Kanban, and scaled agile approaches for project managers, product owners, team leads, and organizational leaders who want to deliver projects more responsively and effectively in complex, changing environments.

The program goes beyond the basics of agile ceremonies to address how agile thinking changes the role of the project manager, how to manage stakeholder expectations in an iterative delivery environment, how to scale agile across programs and portfolios, and how to introduce agile practices in organizations still operating traditional delivery models.

Available as an instructor-led classroom course at scheduled venues worldwide, as a fully live online program, and as a customized in-house program. Every format is live and interactive. There are no pre-recorded sessions.

Who Delivers This Program

Every session is facilitated by a practitioner who has implemented agile in real organizational settings, not just coached teams through ceremonies in a training room. Our facilitators have led agile transformations, managed large agile programs, served as product owners and scrum masters in commercial environments, and introduced agile practices in organizations that were skeptical or resistant. They are selected based on the industry profile of each cohort, including experience in non-technology sectors where agile is increasingly applied.

How We Make This Relevant to You Specifically

Before every cohort, each participant completes a pre-course profile covering their current role, their experience with agile, the types of projects they manage, and the specific challenges they face. Facilitators review every profile before the first session begins. Whether you are introducing agile to a traditionally structured organization, scaling it across a program, or trying to make agile ceremonies actually work in your team, the content and discussions will be calibrated to your actual situation.

What You Will Learn

By the end of this program, you will be able to:

Apply agile principles in your project context
Move beyond agile as a set of ceremonies to understand what the underlying principles require of project managers and teams.

Lead Scrum teams effectively
Facilitate sprints, standups, retrospectives, and reviews in a way that produces genuine output rather than process compliance.

Apply Kanban for flow and throughput
Design and manage Kanban systems that visualize work, limit WIP, and improve team throughput and predictability.

Manage stakeholders in an agile environment
Set and manage stakeholder expectations in iterative delivery environments where scope evolves and certainty is intentionally deferred.

Scale agile across programs and portfolios
Apply SAFe, LeSS, and other scaling frameworks to coordinate multiple agile teams working on related outcomes.

Introduce agile in traditional organizations
Navigate the organizational resistance and governance constraints that accompany agile adoption in non-technology and traditionally structured organizations.

Measure agile team performance
Use velocity, cycle time, burndown charts, and lead time metrics to track and improve team performance without reverting to traditional reporting.

Choose the right delivery approach
Make an informed decision between agile, waterfall, and hybrid approaches for different project types and organizational contexts.

Course Outline

The program is structured across nine modules covering agile principles through to scaled delivery. Depth and sequencing are calibrated to your format and any customization agreed in the pre-course needs assessment.

Module 1: Agile Principles, Values, and the Agile Mindset

The Agile Manifesto, the twelve principles, the difference between doing agile and being agile, why agile transformations fail when they focus on process without changing mindset, and what agile requires of project managers, leaders, and organizations.

Module 2: Scrum Framework in Depth

Scrum roles (Product Owner, Scrum Master, development team), artifacts (product backlog, sprint backlog, increment), events (sprint planning, daily scrum, sprint review, sprint retrospective), the definition of done, and how to make each ceremony genuinely productive rather than a compliance exercise.

Module 3: Product Backlog Management and User Stories

Writing effective user stories, acceptance criteria, story splitting, backlog refinement, prioritization techniques (MoSCoW, WSJF, value vs effort), managing a healthy backlog over the life of a project, and the product owner’s role in keeping the backlog aligned to business value.

Module 4: Kanban and Flow-Based Delivery

Kanban principles, visualizing workflow, WIP limits and why they work, managing flow and identifying bottlenecks, cycle time and lead time metrics, Scrumban as a hybrid approach, and when Kanban is a better fit than Scrum.

Module 5: Agile Estimation, Planning, and Metrics

Story points and relative estimation, planning poker, velocity tracking, sprint and release planning, burndown and burnup charts, forecasting delivery with agile metrics, and having honest conversations with stakeholders about what agile estimation can and cannot tell them.

Module 6: Stakeholder Management and Communication in Agile

Managing stakeholders who expect fixed-scope commitments in an iterative delivery environment, communicating progress through working software rather than status reports, running effective sprint reviews that build stakeholder confidence, and handling escalation when agile delivery challenges traditional governance expectations.

Module 7: Scaling Agile Across Programs and Portfolios

Why scaling is different from simply running more Scrum teams, introduction to SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework), LeSS (Large-Scale Scrum), and Nexus, program increment planning, agile release trains, and portfolio-level agile governance for organizations managing multiple agile initiatives simultaneously.

Module 8: Introducing Agile in Traditional Organizations

Why agile adoptions fail and what to do differently, managing the cultural and governance resistance that accompanies agile change, hybrid approaches that bridge agile and waterfall where full adoption is not yet feasible, building organizational agile capability incrementally, and the leader’s role in creating the conditions for agile to succeed.

Module 9: Your Agile Implementation Plan

Consolidating insights from the program and building a concrete agile implementation or improvement plan for your team or organization, with a 90-day action plan, peer coaching, and certificate of completion.

What This Investment Returns to Your Organization

The business case for agile capability is well supported by research. Organizations that adopt agile practices deliver faster, waste less, and respond more effectively to change than those that do not.

28%

more successful than waterfall projects, according to PMI research on project delivery outcomes. The performance gap between agile and traditional delivery is consistent across industries.
Source: PMI Pulse of the Profession

70%

of digital transformation projects fail. Agile delivery methodology is one of the most consistently identified factors separating successful digital initiatives from unsuccessful ones.
Source: McKinsey

$2T

wasted annually on failed or late projects globally. Organizations with strong agile capability waste significantly less of this total, delivering more within their project investment.
Source: PMI Pulse of the Profession 2023

11.4%

of total project investment wasted on average. High-performing agile organizations waste a fraction of this, demonstrating the direct financial return of investing in delivery capability.
Source: PMI

Beyond the numbers: Organizations that build genuine agile capability, not just agile ceremony compliance, deliver faster, adapt more readily to changing priorities, and create more value from their project investments. Participants return with the practical skills and an implementation plan they apply immediately.

Is This the Right Program for You?

This program is ideal if:

You manage projects in environments where requirements change frequently
You are transitioning from waterfall to agile delivery
You lead or want to implement agile practices in your team or organization
You are preparing for AgilePM, SAFe, or PMI-ACP certification

Consider a different program if:

You need foundational project management first, see PM-01
Your focus is specifically on project risk management, see PM-03

Talk to a training advisor if you are unsure.

Who Should Attend

Project managers and program managers moving from waterfall to agile delivery
Scrum masters, product owners, and agile team leads
IT and product managers working in iterative delivery environments
Leaders introducing agile practices to traditionally structured organizations
Those preparing for AgilePM, SAFe, or PMI-ACP certification

Basic project management familiarity is helpful. Participants from all industries welcome. Delivered in English. Arabic delivery available for in-house programs on request.

How We Customize This Program for Your Organization

Your current stateWe assess your organization’s current delivery maturity and agile adoption level, calibrating the program to close the most important gaps.

Sector-specific scenariosAll exercises use project examples from your industry, including non-technology sectors where agile adoption is increasing.

Scaling focusFor organizations running multiple agile teams, we can deepen the SAFe or LeSS content to address your specific scaling challenges.

Certification alignmentFor cohorts pursuing AgilePM, SAFe, or PMI-ACP, we align the program to the relevant exam frameworks.

What Past Participants Say

“We have been doing agile for two years but getting very little from our retrospectives and sprint reviews. This course showed me exactly what we were doing wrong. Within three sprints of returning to work our velocity had improved and our reviews were actually useful.”

Scrum Master, Technology Company, UAE

“The module on introducing agile in traditional organizations was exactly what I needed. I am the only person in my company pushing for agile and this gave me the tools to make the case and the roadmap to make it work despite the governance constraints.”

Project Manager, Government Entity, Saudi Arabia

Delivery Format

In-Person Classroom

Full days, 9am to 5pm
Maximum 15 participants per cohort
Scheduled venues globally
Materials and workbook included

Live Online

Live instructor-led, never pre-recorded
Flexible time-zone scheduling
Fully interactive with breakout groups
Same outcomes and certificate as classroom

In-House / Corporate: Delivered for your teams anywhere in the world. Request a proposal.

Pricing

The following fees apply to the standard 5-day public course delivered in Saudi Arabia and the GCC.

$3,950

Per delegate
Individual booking

$3,555

Per delegate
Groups of 3 to 5 (10% off)

$2,963

Per delegate
Groups of 6 to 10 (25% off)

Fees include all materials, workbook, and certificate. For venues outside the GCC, see the Training Calendar. For in-house delivery, contact us for a proposal.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need project management experience before attending?

Basic familiarity with project management concepts is helpful. Participants with no PM background at all may find PM-01 a better starting point. For most working professionals who have managed or contributed to projects, PM-02 is accessible without prior formal training.

Is this program only relevant to software or IT projects?

No. While agile originated in software development, it is now applied across marketing, product development, organizational transformation, construction, and many other sectors. The program includes non-technology applications and examples throughout.

Does this prepare me for agile certification?

Yes. The program aligns to AgilePM, PMI-ACP, and SAFe certification frameworks. We can advise on which certification is most appropriate for your role and experience level during the pre-course consultation.

What certificate do participants receive?

Every participant receives a TheSkillGrid Certificate of Completion in Agile Project Management, which can be added to LinkedIn and is recognized by employers internationally.

Research sources cited on this page:
PMI. Pulse of the Profession 2023. pmi.org
McKinsey. Losing from day one: Why even successful transformations fall short. mckinsey.com

Upcoming Dates & Venues

No sessions currently scheduled.
Contact us to register your interest — we'll notify you when new dates are confirmed, or arrange a private cohort for your team.

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Join the next scheduled cohort or request private in-house delivery for your team.

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Agile Project Management